Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India c8.s3.11

c8.s3.11

The name is read *Tâkin*, طاکن, by Sir Henry Elliot, and *Tâfan*, طافن, by Gildemeister,* in his extracts from Masudi. The first reading is supported by the strong authority of Abu Rihân and Rashid-ud-din, who agree in stating that the great snowy mountain of *Kelârjik* (or Lârjk), which resembled Demavend by its cupola form, could be seen from the boundaries of *Tâkishar* and Lohâwar.† Elliot, in one passage, corrects *Tâkishar* to *Kashmir*; but this alteration is quite inadmissible, as the mountain is specially noted to have been only 2 farsangs, or about 8 miles, distant from Kashmir. One might as well say that St. Paul's Cathedral is visible from Ludgate Hill and Windsor. The mountain here referred to is the great *Dayamur*, or *Nanga Parbat*, to the west of Kashmir, which is 26,629 feet in height; and which I have myself seen repeatedly from Râmnagar, on the Chenâb, a distance of 200 miles. In a second passage of the same author, Sir Henry calls the mountain *Kalârchal*,‡ and the two places from is used in the inscriptions, as well as upon the coins of Kashmir and Kangra; it is seen on the *Sati* monuments of Mandi, and in the inscriptions of Pinjor; and lastly, the only copy of the ‘Raja Tarangini’ of Kashmir was preserved in the *Tâkari* characters. I have obtained copies of this alphabet from twenty-six different places between Peshâwar and Simla. In several of these places the *Tâkari* is also called *Mundé* and *Lundé*, but the meaning of these terms is unknown. The chief peculiarity of this alphabet is, that the vowels are never attached to the consonants, but are always written separately, with, of course, the single exception of the inherent short *a*. It is remarkable also that in this alphabet the initial letters of the cardinal numbers have almost exactly the same forms as the nine unit figures in present use.